Henrique Capriles, a two-time presidential candidate, will be his party’s rival in Venezuela’s opposition primaries

Twice candidate for the presidency of Venezuela Henrique Capriles will be his party’s candidate, Justice first (with me.), to the opposition primaries, which will take place on October 22, in which the anti-Chávezá will be elected who will face the ruling party in the presidential elections scheduled for 2024.

Capriles, who faced off against the late former president Hugo Chavez in 2012 and Maduro a year later, is ineligible for political office, an issue on the agenda of Mexico’s slow negotiating process between the government and opposition.

“(On) the 23rd anniversary of the Primero Justicia building, we have to give Venezuela a gift. From today we tell you: we have a presidential candidate and that is Henrique Capriles Radonski. I think it is a great gift because there is no corner in Venezuela (…) where there is no poster of Henrique Capriles And, above all, a romantic relationship with Henrique Capriles, ”said PJ boss Maria Beatriz Martinez .

He indicated in a press conference that the candidate of the Justice and Development Party will be announced in a “big national political committee” that will be held “next Friday, March 10.”

“This declaration also establishes a clear, real and tangible possibility to show the country what has been built and what has been promulgated and to express itself very clearly in these past six months,” he said.

Regarding Capriles’ disqualification, Martinez said, “Unfortunately, the reality that exists in Venezuela (is) that Venezuelans have ‘handicapped their political rights’.”.

“We as Venezuelans are disabled because there is a catalog, a series of obligations that have not been fulfilled until now (…) We are going there, organizing to defeat him (Nicolas Maduro), and certainly, he has to guarantee Venezuelans their political rights and those political rights start from licenses.”

His disqualification was imposed in 2017 and for a period of 15 years due to alleged “administrative irregularities” during his tenure as governor of Miranda state, Caracas’ neighbor, between 2008 and 2017.

Last Saturday, Capriles was chosen as the preferred candidate in a grassroots consultation conducted by his partyto find out his opinion as to who should be his candidate for the anti-Chavisa primaries.

The political agenda, which includes electoral stipulations and disqualifications, was not addressed in the dialogue in Mexico, which has been paralyzed since November awaiting the disbursement of resources frozen by international sanctions imposed on Maduro to address the humanitarian crisis.

With information from AFP and EFE

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